Insurance Dispute Lawyer Blog

For those Louisiana residents, whether you live in Lake Charles, Shreveport, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Kentwood or any other of the great cities across this state, looking for more information on their possible personal injury claim, check out our blog dedicated to these legal matters:

Louisiana Personal Injury Blog

This blog discusses the legal issues relating to Admiralty/Maritime law, Animal/Dog Bites, Car Accidents, Chemical/Industrial Spills, the intricacies of Expert Testimony, Insurance Disputes, employee rights under the Jones Act, Legal Duty, Civil Lawsuits, Criminal prosecution, Medical Malpractice, Mesothelioma/Asbestos, Motorcycle Injury, Negligence, Offshore Accidents, Product Defects, Chinese Drywall, Strict Liability, Workers' Compensation and Wrongful Death. All of these issues are crucial to citizens rights and residents of Louisiana.

To better understand the complexity of the law, contacting an attorney is crucial. However, to get a better understanding of the general issues, we hope this resource is invaluable. Feel free to browse this legal resource dealing with a variety of harms or damages you may have suffered in order to understand how your issue matches up with the law.

If you would like to speak with an attorney, check out our contact information. We represent Louisiana residents across the state and would be happy to discuss with you how to move forward with your unfortunate circumstances.

The Wall Street Journal, in its editorial section yesterday, commended Judge Duval for finding the Army Corps of Engineers at fault for the flooding of areas of New Orleans. The editorial, entitled 'A win for New Orleans,' celebrates the win as an opportunity for those whose homes flooded to receiving financial settlements to make up for the inability of the Corps to develop and operate adequate water projects.

The lawsuit was brought by seven plaintiffs. Judge Duval ruled against the plaintiffs from New Orleans East but awarded $720,000 to those from St. Bernard and the Lower Ninth.

The judge's decision could lead to thousands of people joining class actions seeking billions of dollars in damages. Lawyers for the plaintiffs are calling on the federal government to offer a universal settlement with the people of New Orleans. The Obama administration and members of Congress should listen. While there are limits on how much people should expect -- the government is strapped for cash, after all -- it's difficult to see what purpose would be served by dragging this case through appeals all the way up to the Supreme Court. Unless the government has a persuasive defense for the negligence decried by Judge Duval, it would be better to settle now.

This is a good sign that the national press is following Gulf Coast issues closely and hopefully people get the results they are looking for in terms of more Corps attention and effort into improving the water systems. Any progress and attention to issues relating to New Orleans and its recovery, though, is positive and hopefully will help lead to those efforts that prevent the devastation of Katrina from occurring again.

Hurricane Ida has weakened to a tropical storm as the Gulf Coast braces for the high waves, rain and wind sure to come in the afternoon and evening. Make sure to check with the NOAA's website for developments as they become available.

Please adjust your plans accordingly and insure the safety of yourselves and your families by not taking any chances.

Hurricane Ida is moving into the Gulf and current tracking has the storm reaching the Gulf Coast late Monday evening. WWL reports Ida is gaining strength over the warm Gulf water while also downgrading into a tropical storm.

For more information on Ida as it becomes available, check out the National Weather Service's National Hurricane Center site dedicated to the storm, located here, or continue to check into this blog.

Hurricane insurance claims continue to be filed in the Gulf Coast, this time in Texas. The Southeast Texas Record reports a wide assortment of filings over the last week of October. Examples include:

Joseph and Julia Crow of Beaumont allege Texas Windstorm Insurance Association denied their claim for roof, water, wind, foundation, structural and contents damages caused to their home after Hurricane Ike struck on Sept. 13, 2008. TWIA denied the claim after its Vice President of Claims Reggie Warren assigned adjusters to investigate.

June Jennings of 1908 North 21st St. in Nederland alleges Texas Windstorm Insurance Association improperly paid her claim for dwelling and contents damages caused to her home after Hurricane Ike struck on Sept. 13, 2008.

These two cases highlight a common thread in insurance disputes: claim denials and low-ball financial compensation offers. Further, many insurance companies hope that homeowners do not know how long they have to file and try to convince them that a low settlement is the only solution. In many cases this is simply not the case and accepting such an offer is disastrous.

The Berniard Law Firm is very familiar with attacking both of these strategies when its clients are taken advantage of by the insurance companies and employs a myriad of experts that will help you receive the justice you deserve.

A quick news piece emerging out of Houston demonstrates that though it has been a quiet hurricane season, the damage caused by previous years in which the Gulf Coast was not so lucky have still not been overcome. In Houston, individuals still living in FEMA trailers in the wake of Hurricane Ike have been notified that they will need to vacate and move on to more permanent housing.

Per Houston's Daily News

Before Hurricane Ike, Sidney Lampman rented the first floor of her sister’s two-story house on West Hunter Drive in Old Bayou Vista. The hurricane flooded the house and, even though Lampman rented the property, rather than owned it, the Federal Emergency Management Agency gave her a mobile home while she looked for a new place to live.

This month, the agency sent Lampman a letter telling her she must move out of the mobile home because there are plenty of apartments and rental houses in the area.

The agency referred her to the federal Disaster Housing Assistance Program, which subsidizes rent for hurricane victims through March.

It is disappointing to see people are still having to rely on this governmental housing and shows the true destruction caused by these disasters. We can only hope this quiet hurricane season continues and the Gulf Coast is given a reprieve from disastrous weather.

While much of the nation has been spared any sort of adverse weather as a result of tropical storms or hurricanes, insuring one's home is not the only way precaution may be taken by people, regardless on where they live. One helpful tip is to avoid any sort of delay or detriment to travel enjoyment by insuring your trip or vacation.

Article writer Michelle Higgins recounts various trips she has taken and the security insurance now provides. She writes

Several years passed before we returned to the Caribbean in hurricane season. In October 2007, my husband and I rented a house on the island of Vieques in Puerto Rico. The three-bedroom home was perched on a hilltop, and its pool offered clear views of the bioluminescent bay and remote beaches. The October rate was a bargain, and other than a few afternoon showers, we escaped any foul weather.

This year, we decided to press our luck again. Why? Because we were getting hurricane insurance.

Basic travel insurance typically covers hurricanes or other unexpected weather events. This can offer peace of mind to travelers going to a storm-prone region. If a hurricane shuts down the airport or wipes out the hotel, for example, you don’t lose the money you spent on the vacation.

But some companies have started going a step further, offering more specific storm-related benefits like hurricane-warning protection. With this type of insurance, travelers don’t have to wait until a hurricane ruins their vacation to get their money back. Rather, hurricane-warning coverage generally allows cancellation of a trip within 24 hours of departure if the destination is under an official hurricane warning from the National Hurricane Center.

The article goes on but the general idea is that a variety of situation-specific provisions exist. By researching before your trip and looking into anything a travel agent or the company you are buying through, or in the event it is a trip just researching the internet or your rental car company, valuable time and money can be preserved. Some companies might let you go on the trip again while others may simply reimburse a portion of your trip. Either way, being an educated traveler can be quite helpful when hurricanes sweep through, if they do. And if they don't, at least knowing you're protected can make travelers less wary about the weather day to day.

In pursuit of keeping readers abreast of storms as they develop, the new storm forming in the Atlantic may lead to this season's next tropical storm with, hopefully, the same results as those previous this year. While it is currently projected to not even reach the coast, it will likely be followed by national meteorologists as it either strengthens or weakens. Storms often can change track so this blog will keep track as the storm progresses.

In the meantime, the AP reports

A new tropical depression has formed in the far eastern Atlantic Ocean and is expected to strengthen into a tropical storm later on Monday or Tuesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

At 5 p.m. [Monday], the depression was located about 160 miles south of the southernmost Cape Verde islands and its maximum sustained winds were near 35 mph, the center said.

"Strengthening is forecast over the next couple of days ... and the depression is expected to become a tropical storm tonight or Tuesday," it said in a advisory.

It would be named Fred, the sixth named storm of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season.

More information will be posted as it becomes available.

Per the Examiner, storms may finally reach the Gulf Coast.

A new system taking shape has a fairly high chance of becoming a depression, and possibly tropical storm, on either September 1 or 2, according to the National Hurricane Center. It is located east of Puerto Rico near the Lesser Antilles. The good news is this: the persistent trough over the east will likely steer this tropical cyclone away from the U.S. coast just as we saw with “Bill” and “Danny”. The system has a very low chance of affecting Texas based on expected steering winds.

National Hurricane Center

The Wall Street Journal reports that companies in the Gulf and outside of it are not seeking insurance for catastrophe this hurricane season. Citing "improved technology and increased regulations" as rationale for avoiding the provisions, these companies still stand at some peril as hurricane season escalates. The article notes

Many energy companies are facing the late-blooming Gulf Coast hurricane season without insurance against storm damage to their offshore platforms, pipelines and drilling rigs.

Although the annual storm season has been mild so far, the first hurricane, Bill, brewed up in the Atlantic last weekend, and federal forecasters are predicting three to six hurricanes this year, one or two of which will probably qualify as major.

Consumers are less likely than in earlier years to see spiking prices if hurricanes hit, experts said, because big stockpiles of oil, natural gas and gasoline have built up in the U.S. since the recession began.

But for small and midsize energy companies, a storm's impact could be serious, because they would have to pay for repairs out of their own pockets at a time when revenues have been shrinking because of the global slump in oil and natural-gas prices.

This seems to be similar to the gamble that states are taking for reinsurance, as mentioned in the blog here. All the more, very close attention is going to be paid to developing storms as the season rolls on and the gambles states and companies are taking either pay off or blow up in their faces.

The good news for the United States is, other than a bit of rain and higher waves, Hurricane Bill will likely miss and not make landfall.

This article, from Canada's CBCNews, details the storm's projected path

Hurricane Bill will likely blow into Atlantic Canada's waters on Sunday as a Category 2 storm, bringing 150 kilometre an hour winds and heavy rain, the Canadian Hurricane Centre said Friday afternoon.

But forecasters said it's too early to be precise or issue any warnings.

"At this point, it's still not possible to give the specifics that everybody wants," said Peter Bowyer, the hurricane centre's program manager.

As of Friday morning, Bill was a Category 3 storm about 625 kilometres south of Bermuda with sustained winds of 185 km/h. It was moving north-northwest at about 28 km/h.

Bill is expected to close in on mainland Nova Scotia on Sunday morning, pass close to Cape Breton Island late Sunday afternoon or evening and blow over southeastern Newfoundland late Sunday or early Monday.

Bowyer said it's unclear whether Bill will reach land. The hardest hit areas can expect winds between 150 and 180 km/h and up to 150 millimetres of rain, he said.

While it has downgraded in size and strength, it's still nice to see this Hurricane miss the country almost completely.